Thursday, September 10, 2015

Aurora Consurgens: A Relationship Roadmap

"I am hot and dry Sol and you Luna are cold and moist. When we couple and come together (...) I will, with flattery take your soul from you." ~Aurora Consurgens

We are going to categorize this as a "Daemon Flashback," mainly because we were feeling nostalgic about the beginnings of our adventures as AST enthusiasts and our early 'awakenings' to the depth and patterns in the All Souls Trilogy. We were recently discussing going to AllSoulsCon (we head to LA tomorrow!) and what a wild ride the culmination of our activities has taken us on! From Salem MA, to Austin TX, to Seattle WA and now to Los Angeles. We love traveling to meet with each other! If you count the book signing events we've been to individually, the mileage will add up even more! More importantly, we've learned a lot about ourselves, our interactions with others, and our personal capabilities. Who knew we'd be doing what we are now?! Regardless, we are grateful for every bit of it. This is the coolest obsession hobby anyone could've asked for. We've made lots of friends - and we found each other! Ok, enough memory lane for now, we'll get to the point! ;)

Being that we were early adopters of the series—meaning we were the unfortunate souls that waited months and years (2 years between SON and TBOL) between each installment—we've had plenty of time to contemplate and discuss the words in each book. Prior to us being online publicly, we were just your average über fans who loved to bounce theories at each other. We suppose these sessions count as early archetypes of our Weekly Geekseries! Today's post is a flashback based on some of these theories from October, 2012 (<—Eek! We've been obsessingfan-girling analyzing this for a weirdly long amount of time!). Shadow of Night was released earlier that year.

The question that was brought up (like Diana, it always seems to start with a question!) was this: "What is the significance of the Aurora Consurgens in this story?" It's verses are constantly referred to in ADOW, mentioned in SON, and touched upon in TBOL (although, at this point we hadn't read book 3 yet. It didn't exist). After suspecting for a while, we came to the conclusion that they were there purposefully - mainly to give the reader a signal of things to come. We are not big subscribers to the notion of coincidences especially with this series (although we grudgingly admit that they do happen!) So how does the Aurora Consurgens play into this story? We broke it down in pieces, categorized by the verses used throughout. Keep in mind, our conclusions have not been author-confirmed, but collectively they do make a lot of eerie sense! It may be a bit long, but hang in there! Your "third eye" may open to a few things! Here we go. . .

When we examined the lines of Godfrey's copy of the Aurora Consurgens featured in The All Souls Trilogy, we noticed a few things. We explored everything in pieces and tried to fit clues together; not unlike Diana with her white table!

From Chapter 21 of A Discovery of Witches:

There were two illuminations—just as Matthew had promised—that weren’t included in any known copy of Aurora Consurgens. Both appeared in the final parable, devoted to the chemical wedding of gold and silver. The first accompanied words spoken by the female principle in alchemical change. Often represented as a queen dressed in white with emblems of the moon to show her association with silver, she had been transformed by Bourgot into a beautiful, terrifying creature with silvery snakes instead of hair, her face shadowed like a moon eclipsed by the sun. Silently I read the accompanying text, translating the Latin into English: “Turn to me with all your heart. Do not refuse me because I am dark and shadowed. The fire of the sun has altered me. The seas have encompassed me. The earth has been corrupted because of my work. Night fell over the earth when I sank into the miry deep, and my substance was hidden.”The Moon Queen held a star in one outstretched palm. “From the depths of the water I cried out to you, and from the depths of the earth I will call to those who pass by me,” I continued. “Watch for me. See me. And if you find another who is like me, I will give him the morning star.” My lips formed the words, and Bourgot’s illumination bought the text to life in the Moon Queen’s expression that showed both her fear of rejection and her shy pride.

1. How the Moon Queen relates to Diana:

"Turn to me with all your heart. Do not refuse me because I am dark and shadowed. The fire of the sun has altered me. The seas have encompassed me. The earth has been corrupted because of my work. Night fell over the earth when I sank into the miry deep, and my substance was hidden.”

Triple moon symbol depicting the phases

• The above passage establishes her as the moon. “Dark and shadowed” refers to the phases of the moon (when the “crescent moon” is visible, the rest is dark and shadowed) The fire of the sun alters her because she is reflective of the sun's light based on their relative positions. The seas have encompassed her; that refers to the tides and the moon's influence on it. The earth has been corrupted 'because of her work': the tides rise and fall and rock erosion results. Night falls over the earth in the miry deep and her substance is hidden when she is in the “dark" phase or "new moon". The moon can also be interpreted as the “Goddess”. The Moon Goddess is a triple aspect entity representing the Maiden (waxing crescent), the Mother (full moon), and the Crone (waning crescent).

Her hidden substance and her sinking into the miry deep can also refer to her time in oubliette. In La Pierre, her substance was so hidden, that Satu — a very powerful witch — couldn't even figure out what was going on. Replace the word substance with "power" and think of how Diana was spellbound by her parents. If you'll recall, they told her the story about the "shadowed man" in the oubliette to help her remember and release her magic.

"From the depths of the water I cried out to you, and from the depths of the earth I will call to those who pass by me,”

• The above—we believe — are featured in ADOW as the witch water and the oubliette scenes (chap 23 and chap 29-31, respectively).

"Moon Queen’s expression that showed both her fear of rejection and her shy pride."

• Chapter33/ADOW - In this scene, we catch these key phrases that mirror the above:

Matthew’s pale face was turned up to me, his eyes full of wonder. When our gazes connected, he smiled.It
was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. There was a surge of
desire, strong and visceral, and a rush of pride that he was mine.

“Are you afraid of me?” I asked, my body still hovering.“No,” he said.

"Watch for me. See me. And if you find another who is like me, I will give him the morning star.”

image A

• The Morning star is the ball of energy that Diana gave to Matthew in ADOW. Wow! What a leap, right? Well, let us explain our reasoning; we came to this conclusion because of the pentacle (see image A). It's a star-shaped representation of the elements + Diana (her spirit/the Goddess), and a common pagan symbol. In ADOW, the object that represents all of the elements + Diana's spirit/Goddess is the sphere of energy featured in chap 33 (in the orchard in Madison). The ball also shimmered like the "Morning Star." It made sense to us! Going back and reading the actual passage made it pretty clear to these daemons.

The following is the scene in mirrors the giving of the Morning Star (Also Chapter 33/same scene):

I lowered my
feet until they floated a few inches above the ground and held out my hand,
palm upturned. My mind’s eye filled with the image of my own energy: a shifting
mass of silver and gold, green and blue, shimmering like a morning star. I
scooped some of it up, watching as it rolled from my heart through my shoulder
and arm.A pulsing,
swirling ball of sky, sea, earth, and fire sat in my palm. The ancient
philosophers would have called it a microcosm—a little world that contained
fragments of me as well as the larger universe.“For you,” I
said, voice hollow. My fingers tipped toward him.Matthew caught
the ball as it fell. It moved like quicksilver, molding itself to his cold
flesh. My energy came to a quivering rest in the scoop of his hand.“What is it?” he asked, distracted from his urge to hunt by the gleaming substance.“Me,” I said simply. Matthew fixed his attention on my face, his pupils engulfing the gray-green irises in a wave of black. “You won’t hurt me. I won’t hurt you either.”

2. How the Sun King relates to Matthew

The second unique illumination came on the next page and accompanied the words spoken by the male principle, the golden Sun King. The hair on my neck rose at Bourgot’s depiction of a heavy stone sarcophagus, its lid open just enough to reveal a golden body lying within. The king’s eyes were closed peacefully, and there was a look of hope on his face as if he were dreaming of his release. “I will rise now and go about the city. In its streets I will seek out a pure woman to marry,” I read, “her face beautiful, her body more beautiful, her raiment most beautiful. She will roll away the stone from the entrance of my tomb and give me the wings of a dove so that I might fly with her to the heavens to live forever and be at rest.” The passage reminded me of Matthew’s badge from Bethany and Lazarus’s tiny silver coffin. I reached for the Bible.

"...will roll away the stone from the entrance of my tomb and give me the wings of a dove so that I might fly with her to the heavens to live forever and be at rest.”

• The Scene in St. Lucien at the church, where Matthew confesses his sins to Diana; namely his suicide and the mercy killing of Philippe. His guilt for his 'sins' was his 'tomb'. If you remember in early ADOW he used his coffin-shaped ampulla from Lazarus as a modern reminder to himself of his past misdeeds, essentially keeping him prisoner in his 'tomb'. The feather Matthew picks up from the dove that flew overhead symbolizes “The wings of a dove”. The dove represents him starting to free himself from grief/guilt, and being able to turn to Diana and love her with his whole heart and whole life. Going back to the Moon Queen’s passage, the first line reads, “Turn to me with all of your heart.” In Christianity, a dove symbolizes hope and peace (since we went with paganism for Diana, we thought we should turn to the bible for Matthew). The dove is a also a symbol of the Holy Spirit and the soul.
Diana mentions the feather from the dove in this next quote from the Shadow of Night:

Chap 10/SON

A long white feather from the dove’s wing drifted and curled on the currents of air, landing on the pavement before us. Matthew bent to pick it up, his expression puzzled as he held it before him.“I’ve never seen a white dove in the church before.” Matthew looked to the half dome of the apse where the same bird hovered over Christ’s head.“It’s a sign of of resurrection and hope. Witches believe in signs, you know.” I closed his hands around the feather. I kissed him lightly on the forehead and turned to leave. Perhaps now that he had shared his memories, he could find peace.

And finally, this piece of Aurora Consurgens:

“I will rise now and go about the city. In its streets I will seek out a pure woman to marry,” I read, “her face beautiful, her body more beautiful, her raiment most beautiful. ...."

• This scene is reflected by Diana's and Matthew's actual marriage in San Lucien. It was held "in the streets" (if you remember they walked to the village from Sept Tours for the wedding), and her "raiment" (definition: apparel, clothing). Our conclusion is that “her raiment most beautiful” is actually "La Robe." They sought each other out in the streets of St. Lucien:

Chap 12/SON:I faltered as we came to the church. The entire village had assembled outside its doors, along with the priest. I searched for Matthew and found him standing at the top of the short flight of stairs. Through the transparent veil, I could feel his regard. Like sun and moon, we were unconcerned at this moment with time, distance, and difference. All that mattered was our position relative to each other.

• This phrase: "Like sun and moon, we were unconcerned at this moment with time, distance, and difference." was a key indicator that these unique verses in Godfrey’s copy (fictional verses) of the Aurora Consurgens are about Diana and Matthew, and the clues Ms. Harkness plants for us explain how.

That, dear readers, is as far as we got on that particular tangent! Did we blow your mind a little? Well, don't feel bad. Ours are continually blown when we come across things like this! These hidden gems and mysteries keep these books fun! There are other verses we've yet to break down, but we hope to eventually explore them with you!

On the subject of exploring things with you - those of you that will be at AllSoulsCon on Saturday, we cannot wait to meet you all in person! We are excited to finally get to put faces with names! For those of you streaming online, we'll be seeing you too! By the way, tickets will be available until tomorrow morning! It's not too late! Virtual pass holders, do not forget our exclusive giveaway! It's meant for true All Souls Trilogy fans! That giveaway will run throughout the weekend until the evening of the 14th of September!

Until after AllSoulsCon,
Feed your daemons!

P.S. We took the original document that we compiled in 2012 (not as detailed as it is here), and made .PDF versionthat you can download/print to look at at your leisure (instead of searching for this post later)! It contains the original bad grammar, terrible formatting, and budding daemonosity all packed for your amusement in one document! Enjoy! :D

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